26 August 2009

The adventure has finally begun! On August 19th I woke up at 2:45am to get ready to leave. We got to the Akron-Canton airport around 5am, then I had to say goodbye to my parents. That was really hard but I know I will see them again in a year =) I will miss them a lot, but I think I am ready for this. I need to earn to survive on my own eventually. What better way to do so than traveling to another country for a year? Haha

The plane ride was absolutely amazing! I haven't been on a plane since I was 3 years old, so it was quite exciting. I was really nervous at first, but taking off was so neat! And the view out of the window was beautiful. We were flying in the sunrise basically! Flying kind of gave me a headache though, thats the only downside. But guess what?! I survived the airport in New York, haha. I was quite worried about that since I haven't ever been in a huge airport, but it wasn't a problem at all. I had to sit at the airport for about 3 hours until AFS staff met me there. But then we had to wait for more students to show up. It was quite a long morning.

Finally everyone arrived in the airport in New York, we all took a bus to the Double Tree Hotel. When we arrived we were tested for swine flu and then got our nametags and everything. We spent like 4 hours getting to know each other because they didn't have rooms for us yet in the hotel. The next day we split in the country groups. From America going to Norway are Blake, Evan, Grayson, George, Cassie, Lucas, and me! They are awesome people and I miss them already! The next day we got on a plane at 5:00pm to head for Stockholm, Sweden. It was a 7 hour flight, soooo long. All of us basically barely slept. Because of the time change we lost the entire night it was so bad. Then we had an hour flight from Stockholm to Oslo at 9am. Once everyone from all over the world was at the airport in Oslo we got to travel to the Norwegian Military Camp nearby. We did many activities there, peep and monster game, learn about norwegian culture, talent show, eat norwegian food, and much more. For the talent show we had to represent the USA. So we did a skit about stereotypes in the USA. Our skit took place in a McDonalds in Texas. Cassie was the girl behind the counter, and first me and Grayson came up with our clothes stuffed with pillows and ordered food. Then everyone else: Lucas as loud/obnoxious, George as a stoner, Evan as a meathead, and Blake as a redneck. It was hilarious and a lot of fun. The next few days were filled with learning more about Norway and norwegian lessons. Finally we left the camp on Sunday at 12:30pm. I had to say goodbye to everyone which was sad but I'll keep in touch.

Our flight from Oslo to Molde left at 15:45 so we arrived in Molde around 16:45. We were greeted at the airport by the AFS Norge welcoming committee. By the way, the plane ride to Molde was absolutely amazing. We saw tons of mountains covered in snow, and the beautiful fjords. The afs committee then drove us to the school we will be going to: Molde v.g. skole. We met our host families there! I was so nervous and had a ton of butterflies in my stomach, haha. But as soon as I saw them I was sooooooo happpy!! Best feeling in the world :)) Then we drove to the house, which is great. Everything in the house is so interesting and nice. My room is wonderful, I love it. The shower is so cool too, I know that sounds weird, but its like a waterfall haha. I talked to my host family all night and gave them their gifts, which they really enjoyed, I was actually nervous they wouldn't like them! I'm so glad they did. We also had my first meal here in Molde, haha. Pasta noodles with meat sauce, very yummy! The house also has an amazing and gorgeous view out of the window: a ton of snow covered mountains. It is just another thing to love about Norway.

My host family is great and so kind to me. I love them and I already feel like a part of the family. I am really looking forward to this year with them. =)